Educating a child vs Housing a prisoner

The average cost per state of educating a child compared to the cost of housing a prisoner. The GIF below uses data from the Vera Institute of Justice’s 2012 “Price of Prisons” report and 2012 U.S. Census data on public school costs.

8 thoughts on “Educating a child vs Housing a prisoner”

The argument is to better invest in education and in turn, lower the investment in for imprisonment. However, since most prisons are privately owned, it’s not in their best interest to have a better educated population, as it would cut into their profit margin. Actually, it’s not in their interest to take away incarceration for low level pot possession. So, even if you aren’t into education, you just might be into legalization of pot, it might be beneficial to know who controls your Congressman on that issue.